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British Czech and Slovak Association About the BCSAThe BCSA was launched by Alexander Dubcek in November 1990 and has been a registered British charity since 1995.The BCSA raises public awareness in Britain of Czech and Slovak life in all its aspects: history, arts, literature, economies, politics and sciences. BCSA Executive CommitteeHonorary officersChairman: Sir Michael Burton KCVO, CMG Vice-chairman: Ruzena Holub email: bcsa @ bcsa . co . uk Honorary Treasurer: Douglas Gibb Honorary Secretary: Blanka Shrimpton email: secretary @ bcsa . co . uk Elected members Michael Ivory, Events Coordinator Edward Peacock, Competition Organiser email: prize @ bcsa . co . uk Angela Spindler-Brown, BCSA Review Editor Co-opted members Zuzana Slobodova-Nepil One vacancy Non-executive Officers President: Ladislav Hornan Vice-president: Graham Melville-Mason Chairman's report for 2009It is my great pleasure to report to you on your Association’s activities in the course of 2009.The year was marked by the tragic and unexpected death of the Czech Ambassador, Dr Jan Winkler. Dr Winkler had been a great friend and supporter of the BCSA. On your behalf I wrote a letter of condolence to the Czech Government and contributed to the obituary which appeared in The Times. We are delighted to welcome HE Mr Michael Zantovsky as the new Czech Ambassador in London. He has had a most distinguished diplomatic career and we look forward to his being our Guest of Honour and speaker at our annual Dinner in November. BCSA Events in 2009 Our programme of events for 2009 began on 19 January at a crowded Czech Embassy, when, on the initiative of Marian Werner, we marked the 40th anniversary of the death of Jan Palach. Ambassador Winkler introduced the evening by recalling the events of 1989, while Marian recounted hitherto unknown aspects of Jan’s short life before introducing the Granada television film Death of a Student, made clandestinely in Prague at the time and given a score specially composed by Peter Eben. Another sizeable audience gathered at the Slovak Embassy on 31 March to listen to a long-awaited reading by Professor Peter Demetz of extracts from his Prague in Danger. A successor to his acclaimed historical masterpiece, Prague in Black and Gold, this, his latest book is an account of the Nazi Protecorate of Bohemia-Moravia and the years immediately after, enlivened by the writer’s own experience. The event was chaired by Professor Robert Evans, and subsequently many of those attending were able to meet the near-legendary figure of the main speaker. Also at the Slovak Embassy, the Association’s Annual General Meeting in April was followed by an enjoyavble buffet kindly prepared by Blanka Shrimpton, our Honorary Secretary, our attempts to reward those attending by some form of entertainment having unfortunately once again come to nothing. Because of the sad and untimely death of Ambassador Winkler, the event planned for February was postponed until 21 May, when Ivan Margolius introduced the television film Hitler, Stalin and I. A moving account of the tribulations undergone by his mother, the widow of Rudolf Slánský and a victim both of Nazism and Stalinism. The weather forecast in the days leading to our Summer Garden Party in June is always followed with great attention. Last year, it did not sound very good and the day itself did not start very promising. But in the end, all was well and over 150 BCSA members and guests enjoyed a pleasant and partly sunny day in the garden of the Czech and Slovak Embassies. The excellent food was prepared by Daniel Recman, chef of the Czech Club and there was plenty of soft drinks, wine and beer to accompany it. Music by a Classic Quartet of young musicians gave a dreamy mood to the beginning of the party, followed by a fiery music provided by a gypsy band of the Duda family from Slovakia. There was something for everybody in their repertoire and they greatly contributed to the relaxed and merry atmosphere of the afternoon. And there was more to enjoy – the Slovak Embassy kindly provided space for a small exhibition of paintings by Czech painter Eva Malkovska, who also came to the party from Prague. The guests could also browse a large selection of books for sale, take part in a competition organized by Czech Airlines or buy raffle tickets and look forward to winning one of the tempting prizes. We would like to thank the Slovak and Czech Ambassadors for allowing us to hold the party and their staff for all the help provided. Their continued support is very much appreciated. We also thank Britannia Connections Ltd. for the main raffle prize, as well as all other raffle contributors and all the helpers on the day. Our autumn season began on 23 September with a most unusual event organised in conjunction with the Czech Embassy, the SVU and the Dvořák Society. With the intriguing title of A Little Festive Shakespeare’s Post, this was a recital of some of Shakespeare’s sonnets, some in English, some in the Czech translation by Professor Martin Hilský OBE. His rendering of Shakespeare’s rich and complex language into beautiful Czech met with great appreciation, as did his spoken command of both languages, while Daniel Dobiáš’s singing and piano accompaniment provided the perfect complement. Our 18th Annual Dinner took place on Friday, 27th November at the Radisson Edwardian Bloomsbury Street Hotel. It was attended by 159 guests who enjoyed the friendly atmosphere of the evening and meeting with their old friends and acquaintances. This year our guest speaker was Sam Walters from the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond, who talked about the theatre’s long time involvement with the Czech Republic, especially with Vaclav Havel and his plays, in connection with the 20th Anniversary of the Velvet Revolution. HE Juraj Zervan, Slovak Ambassador in London, HE Michael Zantovsky, Czech Ambassador in London, Sian MacLeod, HM Ambassador in Prague and Linda Duffield CMG, former Ambassador to Prague also attended. Sir Nicholas Winton also enjoyed the occasion and his presence at the dinner was enjoyed by all participants. Budweiser Budvar UK supplied the beer again this year for the pre-dinner drinks. Our dinner was not financially sponsored this year but the raffle prizes were excellent as in the past. They included two return tickets to Prague donated by Czech Airlines, 3 nights Spa stay for two - Taste of Piestany in the hotel Thermia Palace ***** donated by the Danubius Hotels Group and a very special prize of a painting donated by Hynek Martinec, a successful young Czech artist. The Raffle raised £684. The BCSA would like to thank all contributors for their continued support of this event. November was also marked by the showing of the DVD of another documentary film, Good Morning Slovakia. Introduced by its maker, Fedor Gál, one of the leading figures during Slovakia’s 1989 revolution and the first chairman of VPN (Public Against Violence), the film dealt with the revolution and its aftermath as seen from today’s perspective. The screening and Dr Gál’s participation had been arranged jointly with UCL’s School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies and took place in their premises, where those attending were greeted by the Director, Dr Robin Aizlewood. Relatively few BCSA members found their way to this unfamiliar venue, but the event was nevertheless well supported, many of the audience consisting of students and of resident young Slovaks. Non-Slovak speakers were frustrated by the intransigence of the DVD, which stubbornly refused to activate its English-language soundtrack. But Dr Gal’s introduction and the lively discussion that followed were in no way inhibited by the shortcomings of the digital age, since expert interpretation was provided by our committee member Zuzana Slobodova. BCSA Review The BCSA Review is published six times a year and distributed to the Association’s members. The BCSA Review continues to report events concerning British Czech and Slovak relations using various sources, often information and articles provided by BCSA members. This collaboration is greatly appreciated and welcomed by the Editor and we hope that it will continue in the future. The Review also provides publicity for activities of Czech and Slovak communities taking place in this country. As the coverage of central and eastern Europe continues to decline across the mainstream British media, the Review illuminates the main political, economic and cultural trends and important developments in the Czech and Slovak Republics, and British Czech and Slovak relations in general. Prize Writing Competition 2009 saw the eighth of our annual writing competitions. All three of our ‘home’ countries were represented among the entrants. The winner was Zuzana Demcakova, a BCSA member from Slovakia who now lives in Worcester and who was our runner-up in 2008. She won our first prize of £300 with The Laugh Is On Me, a fictional letter to a friend, inspired by stories from the book In The Castle Full of Fools by Vladimír Skutina. It starts with an uncompromising account of the treatment in prison of a political prisoner in Communist Czechoslovakia. This is followed by the reflections of that former prisoner when living in England after 1989. The second prize, of £100, went to Pearl Harris, a South African who now lives in south Bohemia for Driver Beware!, an outsider’s entertaining observations of Czech driving habits and road manners. On your behalf I once again want to thank the judges and all the others who worked to make the 2009 competition another success. 2010’s is now open – you’ll have found notices about it on your seats. Details are also in the latest Review and on the website. Entries must be in by 30 June. If you have any questions, have a word with Ed Peacock afterwards. ‘Get to know you’ evenings at the Czechoslovak National House in West Hampstead These gatherings have been going on for three years and are now a regular feature of our social calendar. We meet every second Wednesday in the month except July and August. These evenings attract members and friends from all walks of life to come together either to find out more about the Association or to meet up and catch up with old friends in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere. All are welcome to attend and we would welcome any members to come forward and find out how they could offer their help with some of the administrative tasks involved with running our Association. Membership report Total number of members at the end of 2009 was 324. Only 7 new members joined in 2009. The new members came mainly through personal recommendations, our website or visiting our regular ‘Get to Know You” evenings. We have at present 5 Corporate Members (Maestro Travel, Merkuria Energy UK Ltd., G.Modiano, Eversheds, Britannia Connections Ltd.), 11 Overseas Members (7 in Czech Rep., 2 in France and 1 each in Poland and Belgium) and 5 Students. We would like to thank all members for paying by standing order (it saves us money and time as chasing for payment takes up a lot of time) and particularly those who changed their payment method to a standing order. We appreciate your continued support and are grateful to all extra donations which we have received. Many thanks. School Support Fund In 2009 it was a Czech school's turn to receive our annual donation for teaching English which we alternately award to a Czech or a Slovak school. The selected school is the 21st Elementary school in Plzen (21.Základní škola v Plzni). At present the school has 650 pupils in 27 classes. The school has 50 year long tradition in teaching languages and English is taught from the 1st year. Our donation will be used to purchase an interactive smartboard and additional materials to get the most modern ITC technologies into learners´ life and make lessons more interesting. We will bring you more details after a visit will be made to the school. BCSA Website The website continues to be one of the main methods for communicating with our members and for advertising our events to the general public. It attracts around 200 visitors a week. We also publish details of our events on community websites such as Facebook where over 400 people have now joined the BCSA group. Finally…. ... permit me to make two personal comments. The first is to pay tribute to my colleagues on the Executive Committee. Without their dedicated work, all of it voluntary, all our varied activities – the outstanding programme of events I have described, the organisation of the Garden Party and the Annual Dinner, the Review and the Writing Competition and the organisation of the website, not to mention the work of the Honorary Secretary and Honorary Treasurer – would simply not take place. This should not be forgotten, although, of course, we all enjoy our work for the Association. Secondly I should like to thank the two embassies for their unfailing support throughout the year and particularly the Czech Ambassador and his staff for their hospitality this evening. And thank you all for your support. We would welcome your feedback both this evening or at any other time on any aspect of our activities, including ideas for the meetings programme. Sir Michael Burton, Chairman, April 2010 Treasurer's Report for 2009The BCSA finances remain strong. The financial results for 2009 showed a deficit of £796 which reduced the BCSA assets from £59,761 to £58,965. Total income in 2009 was £18,238 and expenditure in the same period was £19,034.Largest Income Items Subscriptions and members’ donations amounted to £5,503 and formed 30% of BCSA gross income. The garden party and the annual dinner continued to be important fundraising events for the BCSA and raised £1,426. This was a decrease from the previous year as there was no sponsorship for the annual dinner and garden party receipts were lower. The grant of £2,531 from the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs helped to fund the BCS Review. The Gift Aid scheme for Charities enabled the BCSA to reclaim tax of £698 from HM Revenue and Customs. Interest received on BCSA deposits decreased significantly from £3,051 to £588 due to the lower interest rates prevailing during 2009, but the BCSA invested £50,000 in December 2009 for one year at 2.50%. Given the size of the BCSA this £50,000 is protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and is invested with Abbey (Santander) following pro-bono independent advice to the Trustees. Most significant items of expenditure The BCSA continued to fulfil its main objective of deepening British, Czech and Slovak relations and carried on with its support to elementary schools in the Czech and Slovak Republics to improve the tuition of the English language. A grant of £1,500 was awarded to a primary school in Plzen. In addition a grant of £500 was granted towards the cost of the sculpture outside Prague’s main railway station commemorating The Winton Train and in honour of Sir Nicholas Winton. The publishing costs of the BCS Review were £5,139. The expenditure on the regular events programme was £1,834. The cost of the popular writing competition organized and funded solely from BCSA funds was £657. Governance costs remained very low and amounted to £130 due to the fact that all Executive Committee members are volunteers, and also because the independent examiners of the BCSA Accounts worked on a semi-honorary basis, for which the BCSA is most grateful. Approval of Accounts The BCSA accounts were approved by the Executive Committee at its meeting on 4 February 2010 and have been made available in the AGM papers. Moore & Smalley, Chartered Accountants, once again carried out an independent examination of the accounts. Finally, I would like to thank all members, patrons and volunteers for supporting the BCSA’s activities. My particular thanks are due to the Czech and Slovak Embassies for their kind permission to provide their premises for BCSA events. Douglas Gibb, Honorary Treasurer, April 2010 Contact detailsemail: secretary @ bcsa . co . ukpost: BCSA, 643 Harrow Road, Wembley HA0 2EX, England telephone: +44 20 8902 0328 fax: +44 20 8795 4875 |
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Last updated 30 July 2010. Copyright British Czech and Slovak Association. Registered charity 1049411
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